free staters too afraid to erect Casement statue 1966-84
Free State Papers – 1977: Row raged over saga of Casement statue 30 December 2007 By Brian Maye Sunday Business Post Roger Casement has been a controversial figure in Irish history, with even a memorial to him causing argument in the 1970s. In 1966, it was decided to erect a statue over his grave in Glasnevin Cemetery, where his remains had been re-interred the year before. The saga of the statue is revealed in one of the newly released files. A cabinet note from the end of September 1971 said the statue was ready for unveiling, probably within the next two months, pending a decision on the Irish form of Casement’s name that was to be used. Yet, by February 1973, the date of the next note in the file, it still hadn’t been unveiled. The compiler of the note remarked that it would be ‘‘particularly fitting’’ that the president at the time (Eamon de Valera), then nearing the end of his term, would do the unveiling. In June 1974, in reply to a Dail question from a Fianna Fail TD, the minister for finance, Richie Ryan, pointed out that the statue had been completed in 1971 but hadn’t been erected (by Fianna Fail, he meant).He said that he had only recently been made aware of the issue and was considering it. He wrote to the then taoiseach, saying he thought it as well to let the Office of Public Works proceed with erecting the statue, ‘‘but we need have no formal unveiling. This procedure would provide least comment but no action could stimulate protest.” However, an official had advised the taoiseach in November 1973, that if the placing of the statue were done quietly, there could be objections from the sculptor, from Fianna Fail, and from the media and public, who might say it was because of the controversial Casement diaries or because of a fear of Northern loyalist criticism. Nothing happened on the question for the rest of the coalition’s period in office but, with Fianna Fail back in power, matters took a new twist when the Arts Council wrote to the government, explaining that it was holding a retrospective exhibition of the works of Oisin Kelly, the sculptor of the Casement statue, and requesting permission to have and show the statue during the exhibition. Meanwhile, an Irish Times article, also in this Cabinet file, had suggested that, with the eruption of the Northern conflict at the end of the 1960s, it would have proved too embarrassing to have gone ahead with the unveiling ceremony at Casement’s Glasnevin resting place. The Arts Council request added urgency to the need to come to a decision on the matter. The government replied to the council that it had no objection to the statue being included in the Kelly exhibition, but that it first wished to come to a decision about ‘‘the ultimate disposal of the statue’’. In December 1977, an official at the Department of the Taoiseach advised that when a date was decided for the erection of the statue on the grave, a formal ceremony could take place. ‘‘The return of the remains represented a considerable improvement in Anglo-Irish relations, and this particular aspect is perhaps the one on which stress could be laid,” the official continued. Another cabinet memo from a fortnight later has an interesting reference to the way national commemoration ceremonies in the Republic had been toned down in view of the Northern strife. The view is expressed that the feeling had grown that this attitude had gone too far, ‘‘and that we have reached the stage of almost apologising for the deeds of our patriot dead’’. So to erect almost furtively the statue or to leave it in continuing storage ‘‘would seem particularly shabby’’. It had been decided to allow the statue to be exhibited, but this memo suggests the announcement should be made of a date for placing the statue on the grave. However, the announcement, when it came, turned out to be a fudge: ‘‘The statue will be erected later at a suitable location.” It was finally erected on Banna Strand in 1984, ironically under another Fine Gael-Labour coalition.
Free State Papers – 1977: Row raged over saga of Casement statue 30 December 2007 By Brian Maye Sunday Business Post Roger Casement has been a controversial figure in Irish history, with even a memorial to him causing argument in the 1970s. In 1966, it was decided to erect a statue over his grave in Glasnevin Cemetery, where his remains had been re-interred the year before. The saga of the statue is revealed in one of the newly released files. A cabinet note from the end of September 1971 said the statue was ready for unveiling, probably within the next two months, pending a decision on the Irish form of Casement’s name that was to be used. Yet, by February 1973, the date of the next note in the file, it still hadn’t been unveiled. The compiler of the note remarked that it would be ‘‘particularly fitting’’ that the president at the time (Eamon de Valera), then nearing the end of his term, would do the unveiling. In June 1974, in reply to a Dail question from a Fianna Fail TD, the minister for finance, Richie Ryan, pointed out that the statue had been completed in 1971 but hadn’t been erected (by Fianna Fail, he meant).He said that he had only recently been made aware of the issue and was considering it. He wrote to the then taoiseach, saying he thought it as well to let the Office of Public Works proceed with erecting the statue, ‘‘but we need have no formal unveiling. This procedure would provide least comment but no action could stimulate protest.” However, an official had advised the taoiseach in November 1973, that if the placing of the statue were done quietly, there could be objections from the sculptor, from Fianna Fail, and from the media and public, who might say it was because of the controversial Casement diaries or because of a fear of Northern loyalist criticism. Nothing happened on the question for the rest of the coalition’s period in office but, with Fianna Fail back in power, matters took a new twist when the Arts Council wrote to the government, explaining that it was holding a retrospective exhibition of the works of Oisin Kelly, the sculptor of the Casement statue, and requesting permission to have and show the statue during the exhibition. Meanwhile, an Irish Times article, also in this Cabinet file, had suggested that, with the eruption of the Northern conflict at the end of the 1960s, it would have proved too embarrassing to have gone ahead with the unveiling ceremony at Casement’s Glasnevin resting place. The Arts Council request added urgency to the need to come to a decision on the matter. The government replied to the council that it had no objection to the statue being included in the Kelly exhibition, but that it first wished to come to a decision about ‘‘the ultimate disposal of the statue’’. In December 1977, an official at the Department of the Taoiseach advised that when a date was decided for the erection of the statue on the grave, a formal ceremony could take place. ‘‘The return of the remains represented a considerable improvement in Anglo-Irish relations, and this particular aspect is perhaps the one on which stress could be laid,” the official continued. Another cabinet memo from a fortnight later has an interesting reference to the way national commemoration ceremonies in the Republic had been toned down in view of the Northern strife. The view is expressed that the feeling had grown that this attitude had gone too far, ‘‘and that we have reached the stage of almost apologising for the deeds of our patriot dead’’. So to erect almost furtively the statue or to leave it in continuing storage ‘‘would seem particularly shabby’’. It had been decided to allow the statue to be exhibited, but this memo suggests the announcement should be made of a date for placing the statue on the grave. However, the announcement, when it came, turned out to be a fudge: ‘‘The statue will be erected later at a suitable location.” It was finally erected on Banna Strand in 1984, ironically under another Fine Gael-Labour coalition.